It's Almost Over
by Belle Goode
Summary: By far my shortest. A girl trying to protect her friend, winds up on the beach with a gun. Will she make it through, or will a chance encounter end her life early?


**A/N: I do not own CSI Miami or any of it's characters, affiliates...etc. This is just my imagination running with it! I hope you all enjoy!**

Horatio stood there, gun aimed at this teenager, along with three other police officers. She was covered in blood and she was pointing the gun at every one of the officers. "Put the gun down." he said in a low voice.

Her eyes were wide with fear and she positioned herself in a different direction every time someone moved closer. Her heart was pounding a million miles a second and she had no color in her face at all. Her breathing was erratic and it was hard for her to focus. She was standing over her best friends body, and had been told that if she moved, or if she let anyone touch it, she would die. But what did she do now? She was holding a gun at officers, and she'd never been in trouble before. She couldn't begin to imagine what this looked like.

He noticed her hands and body shaking. "Ma'am. I'm going to ask you again. Put the gun down. Please don't make me use this."

She pointed it at him and gazed into his eyes. He could see instant hesitation and pleading for help. "Trust me ma'am. You don't want to do this. Now put down the gun."

She closed her eyes as tears dripped down her cheeks. Dropping her head, she dropped to her knees, dropped the gun and put her hands behind her back, as the officers rushed her.

The look of defeat in her eyes, screamed at Horatio. "Tripp!" he yelled to the detective. "Take her to Natalia for processing, then put her in a holding cell."

"You're sure?"

He nodded, putting his gun back into the holster. "She's not a threat. She's scared out of her mind."

"What about all the blood?"

"We're going to find out, aren't we?"

* * *

Natalia looked at this girl, who was practically in shock and used a gentle hand with her. For whatever reason she was brought in, she was completely harmless at the moment as she shook. She explained every point at what she was doing and where different things would go. The girl never said a word.

After basically stripping her down, putting new clothes on her after taking pictures to determine bruising and putting everything else in brown paper bags one at a time, she was given something to scrub down with, and put into a holding cell. Though there were benches to sit on inside the cell, she put herself in the corner of the room, all the way at the back, and curled herself into a ball.

H stepped up beside Eric. "What is it?" he asked, watching the clear look of curiosity in his face.

"In seven years, I have never seen anyone sit in the holding cell, in the corner instead of on a bench."

He glanced in there to see what he'd been talking about. She'd wound herself up so tight, she had pretty well disappeared in there.

"I thought she was gone at first, until I saw the white in the corner."

Horatio walked into the cell to talk to her and walked gently over to where she was sitting. "Ma'am?"

She sat up straight and tried to back further into the corner, finding it impossible.

The white jumpsuit that she was outfitted with, looked two times too big on her, even being the smallest one they had there. Her breathing hitched and she started panicking. "Calm down. I'm just going to talk to you. I'll sit right here. Alright?"

She stared at him, barely nodding her head quickly.

"Can you tell me what happened this morning?"

Her eyes went to the floor and she started to sweat. She quickly shook her head.

"I can't help you, if you wont talk to me. As it is now, you're on the hook for your friend's murder."

Tears sprang to her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead buried her head in her knees. He could see her body shaking as she cried.

"You can trust me."

She remained silent, sitting there as she replayed what happened in her mind.

"_You wanna live?"_

"_Yes. Please don't hurt us! We didn't do anything!"_

"_Neither of you really did anything. Except for come out here on the beach! You just had to take a walk didn't you? Now, I'm not sure what you saw and what you didn't."_

"_We...we didn't see anything!"_

"_That's what you say. But that means nothing to me! If you did, I doubt you would tell me the truth."_

"_But we didn't see anything!"_

_The man smiled sadistically and his gold tooth showed plainly. "I'm going to make sure of that!" and he shot Mark twice in the stomach. He dropped the gun at her feet. "Now if anyone asks, you did this, do you understand? You breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll kill everyone and anyone you've ever known." Then the man reached in and pulled her identification out of her wallet, then took the picture in there of her and her cousin, hanging onto it. _

_She turned to look at Mark on the ground. "Hang on Mark! Hang on, please!"_

"_Go Jeri. You have to leave. If he gets you..."_

"_No! He said I have to stay! I have to make it look like...Just hang on for me please!"_

_He looked at the blood, now all over her. "Go Jeri! Go now! The police are going to be here any minute!"_

_She felt something push her to the ground and felt a boot in her rib cage. She must have blacked out from the pain because the next thing she knew, people were all around her._

_She turned after being surrounded by police. Taking a look at all of Mark's blood she was covered in, and then down to the gun, she picked up the gun, and started waiving it around, not saying another word as she pointed and listened to shouts to put it down._

"Ma'am?"

She took a deep breath, coming back to present, and with tears still falling she shook her head quickly and shakily.

She had refused to make eye contact. "Has someone threatened you?"

Finally looking up into his face, she simply stared, not confirming or denying.

The man sat there, his elbows on his knees as he leaned down to talk to her. "Can I call you something other than ma'am?"

She glanced at the floor and shook her head quick. The girl was clearly not talking to anyone about anything. Which confirmed his theory that someone had threatened either her, or someone close to her.

Natalia walked into the holding cell and handed Horatio a folder. "These are my findings."

He glanced through the papers and particularly the picture that showed a boot print clearly bruised across her ribs. He turned and looked at her. "The amount of force needed..." and she nodded before he could finish. "Thank you Ms. Boa Vista."

She turned and he closed the file case and looked back at the girl who had buried her head once more. "Here's what I think." and he stepped over the bench and sat back down where he was. "I think, someone else shot your friend. And I think, that someone else, is the same someone that used their eleven and a half to fracture two of your ribs."

Looking up with raw emotion, she started shaking again.

"We can't get an identification for you either at the moment, which tells me that you've never been in trouble before now. I don't think you have it in you to pull a gun on someone, much less to shoot someone. And the protective stance you had over Mark, tells me that he definitely meant something to you."

She wanted to talk to him so bad.

"You _can_ talk to me." he reiterated. But she only pleaded with her eyes for him to stop asking. "Who threatened you sweetheart?" But she only stared at him. Shaking his head he stood. "Then I have no choice but to put you into custody."

* * *

She followed him to booking and stopped when he told the officer he would handle everything himself. The tears welled, but didn't fall as she was finger printed, photographed and put into the system as 'Jane Doe'.

This was going to be hell for her and he did not want to put her into general population. But she had left him with no choice in the matter. And it bothered him to no end, knowing that if she would just talk to him, he could protect her and whoever she was trying to keep safe.

"I want you to know, that whenever you're ready to talk to me, you can tell them, and I'll be here."

Her eyes were so unsure and filled with sorrow and fear, when the barred door closed between them. She turned and followed the guard who was taking her back. She was going to be eaten alive. Horatio got back to the lab and looked at Natalia. "We have to get her out of there as quick as possible. She's not going to make it in there."

She glanced up at him. "She's scared to death."

"Well look at the bruising. It's no wonder. I want to know who."

"I'm working on it. Eric found a partial print from the trigger of the gun and he's running it now. And, I've got the shoe narrowed down. Look at this tread pattern in the bruise."

He glanced at the screen. "Okay?"

"These shoes are only found at a surf shop and there are three of them in the Miami area. So, I'm going shoe shopping in a few minutes."

"My theory is, it's not going to be her print on that trigger. I think that whoever did this, is holding something over her head."

"Oh I completely agree. There's no way she's capable of this."

"No, there's not. But she's zipped up tight. She's not talking. Which means we, need to find the answers."

She nodded. "I'll keep you posted."

He headed back in search of Eric. "What have we got?"

His head came up. "I'm not having much luck with this partial. Our girl is finally in the system and I've got her prints on the handle, but the ridges are different here." and he pointed to the print. He snapped a picture and brought it up on screen. It took a mere few moments for a picture to come up on screen.

"Ruiz Santiago. Has a record for breaking and entering, armed robbery and petty theft."

"Armed robbery? He's not allowed to carry a gun."

"That's correct."

"Lets bring him in."

* * *

Horatio looked under the table at the man's foot, impatiently tapping the floor. "What size shoe do you wear Ruiz?"

"Lieutenant. I'm not sure why that matters."

"Your shoe size." he repeated

"Ten and a half."

He studied him. Sliding a photo on the table over to him, he continued. "Your print was on a gun used in a murder this morning. What are you doing with a gun Ruiz?"

"It's not mine. I'm not allowed to have one, as per my probation."

"That is correct. So why is your print on it?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "Maybe it's my brother's gun. Have you checked with him? I like to shoot sometimes. They never said I wasn't allowed to shoot cans."

"Were you on the beach this morning?"

"The beach? Lieutenant, why would I go to the beach?"

"That, is a very good question Ruiz."

"Have you checked with my brother? He loves to surf and do all that water stuff. Maybe he was at the beach this morning."

He studied him. "I'll do that then. Don't go far Mr. Santiago."

* * *

Luis Santiago looked almost dead on like his brother. Latin facial structure, dark hair and mustache. Although Luis was a bit larger than his brother.

"Luis. Where were you this morning?"

He looked at the man confused. "You come after my brother and now you're coming after me? What is this?"

"This, is a murder investigation. Now please, where were you this morning?"

He took a deep breath through his nose. "I was at the gym this morning. From about seven to nine, then I went to work."

"Can anyone vouch for you?"

"There were several people in the gym. They can vouch for me."

"What size shoe do you wear Luis?"

"My shoe size?" and he smiled amusedly. "Eleven and a half, why?"

"We've got a footprint at our murder scene that looks to be about that size. As well as a gun that is registered to you."

"Wait, I didn't murder no one! I swear I was at the gym and then work! You can check with whoever you want to!"

"We'll do just that Luis. Tell me, do you own a pair of these?" and he slid a picture of a pair of shoes into view.

"Yeah. I wear them for my surfing."

"When was the last time you wore them?"

"Yes...yesterday. I was windsurfing yesterday morning. Please! You have to believe me! I never killed anyone! I wasn't at the beach this morning."

"How did your gun wind up there?"

"I don't know! It was in my house last night when my brother stopped by to shoot targets!"

"You know that your brother isn't allowed to own a gun."

"Own yes, shoot no. He's allowed to shoot my gun. But he never left the property with it! I'm telling you, we're being set up!"

He studied him. "For your sake, I hope that's the truth."

He stood up. "Can I go now?"

"Like I told your brother. Don't go far."

He walked out and almost ran into Natalia. "What's wrong?"

"Your girl. Has she been checked out?"

"I'm not sure, why?"

"This here, is consistent with liver bruising." and she showed him another picture she'd taken. "She is going to be in a lot of pain very soon. We need to make sure it's just bruised and not damaged any further."

He nodded his head. "Let's go."

* * *

"So, what are you in for?"

Jeri looked at the girl and just shook her head.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

She shook her head again and turned away, trying to get away from the blond headed girl. She was a lot bigger and there was no way she was prepared for a fight of any kind. Maybe she should have just talked to the cop.

Suddenly she was surrounded by six girls, each with a sock in their hand and each with a smile on their face, and she knew she was in for the fight of her life. "Let's see if we can make her talk."

Horatio stepped inside the yard and could see the mass of bodies. He looked at the guard that was walking him through. "What's going on?"

"Yard fight!" and he took off running.

Following behind, in case the man needed help, they fought through the girls until one yelled 'Guard' and they started scattering. Horatio got a sick feeling in his stomach. This was a jump in. When you go into detention for the first time, they establish dominance. Under all of the girls was a single body in orange, not moving from the beating she'd taken.

He squatted down, checking for a pulse and finding a faint one. "Get an ambulance in here!"

Her eyes opened and she tried to say something, but it came out as a moan. "Hang on sweetheart. We're getting you some help. Can you keep your eyes open for me? Don't go to sleep."

It was too hard to keep her eyes open. After everything that had happened this morning, losing Mark, Sonya in danger and now this? It was too much. Her eyes closed, and even though his voice commanded they open again and she wake up, she instead went willingly into the dark mist that was warm and inviting. Waiting for her.

"She's no longer conscious! Where's the ambulance?" then he looked back down at the girl and the bruising starting to show on just about every inch of her paled skin. Where they may have started out with socks, turned into a free for all. "Come on kid. Hang on for me." but she remained still as glass on the ground.

When they got there and started the assessment, it was the only female EMT that looked down at her. "Oh my gosh, Jeri?"

"You know this girl?"

"Yeah. This is Jeri Stevenson."

"How do you know her?"

"Her cousin Sonya is one of my fosters. They're always together."

"Are they close?"

"Practically attached. I'd take her in, but I don't have any room and it wouldn't be fair to her."

"I need to make a call. Where is Sonya now?"

"She's at school."

"We need to get her into protective custody as soon as possible." then he looked down at the girl now being loaded onto the stretcher. "Hang on Jeri." He picked up his phone and got an officer on the way to pick the girl up and looked over. "I'm going with you." and he crawled in the back of the ambulance.

It took almost the entire trip to the hospital for a full assessment which included finding bruising, more cracked ribs, a fracture in her right shin and her wrist was broken in at least one place.

* * *

When she woke up, the first thing that hit her was the antiseptic smell of the room. She closed her eyes tight and opened them again, feeling a hand in her own. Turning her head quickly, she instantly regretted doing it with her eyes open.

His face swam in front of her. "Welcome back Ms. Stevenson."

She looked at him, stunned for a minute. She took a deep uneasy breath, surveying the situation. Her leg was in a cast, her right hand and half way up her arm was in a cast, and she could feel something wrapped around her ribcage.

"How long have I been here?"

"Four days." and he could see her brain going. "And I can say, you are safe, and your cousin, Ms. Stevenson, is safe."

Tears crept to her eyes. "Really?"

He nodded. "We're very close to putting the man that attacked you in jail. And honestly, all we need right now is your eye witness."

And that's when she stopped breathing. "What?"

"If you're up for it, I would like you to look at some pictures for me and tell me if one of them is your attacker."

"But...what if..."

"He cannot hurt you. I promise you, I will keep you and your cousin safe. If you don't do this, he's going to get away."

She shook her head. The fear was damn near back in her eyes. "How? How do you know?"

"Because I will personally stand by your side until this is over."

"Why would you do that? You don't even know me?"

"Because everybody deserves to know that they're safe when they're scared, even if it's only for a little while."

More tears fell. "Who are you?" she whispered softly.

"The man that's going to help you."

She studied him. He believed what he was saying. Maybe he would help protect her. She glanced up when a small figure appeared in the door. She recognized her from the lab.

"Ms. Boa Vista is going to show you a few pictures, you tell her if you recognize any of them."

She nodded. "And you're sure Sonya is safe?"

He nodded this time. "She's in protective custody in an undisclosed location."

"He took my wallet and my identification. He told me that if I breathed a word to anyone, that he would make sure everyone I ever knew, paid for it." she ran her hand up and down her casted arm to ward off the chills.

"What happened out there Jeri?"

"I don't know." she whispered. "Mark and I were walking along the beach, and we heard this guy talking, but we couldn't hear what he was talking about. Then all of a sudden we were approached. And he was swinging his gun around. and freaking out because we'd seen something. But we didn't see anything, I swear! We didn't even hear anything." and she swallowed hard. "That's when...that's when he shot Mark and took my wallet. He said that if anyone asked, I did it. I bent over to check on Mark and I remember feeling like something was pushing me into the ground, and I felt this incredible pain in my side. I think I blacked out because the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by cops and holding the gun that he threw at my feet and covered in blood." then she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I was right there, and I couldn't even save him."

Horatio squeezed her hand. "It's alright. You were attacked after he was, you couldn't have done anything about that."

"Mentally, I know that. Emotionally..." and she shook her head.

"It will get better. It will never go away, but it will get better."

She wished she could believe that. And she wasn't sure what to do now. Natalia laid the photos next to her leg and she picked them up, glancing through. When she got to the fourth one down, her hand started shaking and Horatio noticed her heart rate jump on the monitor.

"Is this the man that attacked you?"

She nodded, a tear falling down her cheek. She didn't say anything but continued to stare, almost instantly back in that moment when Mark died.

"Sweetheart, you need to breathe."

She looked at him with the oddest expression of confusion. What was he talking about? She was breathing just fine, wasn't she? It was then that she realized she wasn't. That fact only caused her to panic more.

H stood up and towered over her, gently placing his hands on either side of her face. "Jeri, breathe." then he turned to Natalia. "Get a nurse." and she turned and bolted from the room. "Come on sweetheart. Calm down. You're safe here."

Why couldn't she inhale? What in the hell was wrong with her? She looked up into blue eyes staring at her and she could see him talking, but couldn't make sense of anything being said.

She remembered seeing a nurse run around the other side of the bed, but still couldn't hear anything that was going on. All she knew, was that she could feel fingers in hers, squeezing. She squeezed back and closed her eyes, before her world went black once more.

He looked up at the female nurse, now injecting something into the girls IV. "What's wrong with her? What are you giving her?"

"We're sedating her. She's having an anxiety attack."

He sat back down, still holding the hand that was now relaxed in his. He shook his head and looked at his co-worker.

She handed him the photo. Ruiz Santiago. "Go back to the beach and see if you can find out what he didn't want anyone to see."

She nodded. "I'll take Eric. See what we can dig up." She had no clue how literal that phrase would be.

* * *

They had long since processed the murder scene, and the thought of anything being there that could help was non-existent, but they took a few new tools this time, including thermal radar and a metal detector.

After scanning the entire area they were about to give up when they came across something metal buried in the sand. They started digging and found they body of the senator, who had been reported missing days before.

For all of the things gone wrong, this one was definitely right. They now had motive, and they had Ruiz. Natalia called Horatio.

"Yeah."

"We found the senator buried out here."

"Bring in Ruiz."

"You got it."

He hung up the phone on his end, and looked back down at the figure that remained still, even after two hours. He ran his empty hand through his hair and looked up when eyes barely open, locked with his.

"Hey sweetheart." he said softly.

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, without saying anything.

"How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" she finally replied in a low voice, opening her eyes again.

"You had an anxiety attack after identifying Ruiz."

"I couldn't breathe. And truth was, I didn't even realize I wasn't breathing until you told me."

He smiled gently. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's over, you're safe."

"You keep saying that."

"I do, don't I? It's as true now as it was the first time I said it."

She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand. "You haven't left my side."

"I have a couple of times. But not for very long."

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"Why?"

"I know you have a life outside of this hospital and me."

His smile broadened. "At the moment, my job is to protect you. Regardless."

She studied him closely. "You must not have much of a personal or social life."

He chuckled. "I get by. But it's what I do. And I take my job very seriously."

It was hard to argue with that. "So what now?"

"Now, we bring in Ruiz and keep you safe until he's in jail for two counts of murder."

"Two counts?"

He nodded. "He was burying a body when you stumbled upon him. He was sure you'd seen him so he needed to make sure you didn't talk. You're lucky he didn't kill you when he killed Mark."

Tears sprang to her eyes. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "I'm sure sweetheart. It's almost over."

She swallowed hard. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. All you have to do is just hang with me and stay safe."

"But I'm taking you away from...everything."

"Not at all. Don't even think about it that way. We're going to keep you safe. That's all you need to focus on. The rest will fall into place."

His smile was so sincere. His expression so soft. It was hard not to trust him. She closed her eyes, resting gently against the pillow. "Do you really think we'll get this guy?"

"I do. And once that's done, we find a way to get you somewhere that you can settle down."

She shrugged and glanced at him once more. "Settling down is overrated. I've never been any place for more than a year. But that's how it goes. No one wants an older kid. They want babies. And I can't blame them. Who wants all of this baggage?"

"Baggage is simply a problem that hasn't been resolved. Everyone has issues. No one is exempt."

"But what about you? You seem to have it all together. You're very confident in your mannerisms and you never hesitate on things."

He shook his head amused. "Honey, I'm no where near as together inside, as I appear outside. That's not to say that I don't have it together, but my baggage is inside, not out. Some people carry it out, some in, some bury it and wind up with problems from it. Everyone has baggage and everyone carries it differently. And that's okay. In the end, it's whether or not you actually deal with those problems or not, that makes the person who they are."

She thought long and hard about that. He made a lot of sense. But still, who would take her now, knowing she'd been through what she had. Closing her eyes, a tear sneaked out and rolled down her cheek.

"You alright?"

She nodded, not really opening her eyes at this point. "Just kind of all getting to me I guess."

"It's definitely understandable. Rest. we'll work it all out when you're better."

"Again, thank you."

* * *

It had been damn near four months since the walk on the beach that changed her life. Looking out at the water now, she stood where Mark had been found and squatted down to the sand. She was going to be eighteen in less than a week, and she had, with the help of her new friends, acquired a new job and a place to live, on her own.

"How are you doing Jeri?"

"Horatio?" she turned, smiling at the man that had just stepped out of the silver Hummer parked in the parking area.

"Hi sweetheart." and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Seems like forever ago."

He nodded. "Time has a way of doing that."

She leaned into him, glad that she had made that connection.

"How is Sonya?"

"She's good! We're going to Dade University together in the fall."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"You know what you're going for?"

She inhaled deeply. "Marine Biology."

He nodded and smiled. "It seems like a good move for you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Promise to be there when I graduate?"

"Sweetheart, I wouldn't miss it for the world."


End file.
